Speaking at a CNN town hall event Tuesday, Hillary Rodham Clinton argued a “ban” on semi-automatic rifles — or so-called “assault rifles” — as well as high-capacity magazines would help reduce gun violence in the United States. “What’s been happening with these school shootings should cause everybody to just think hard,” she said. “I was disappointed that the Congress did not pass universal background checks after the horrors of the shooting at Sandy Hook and now we’ve had more in the time since.”(continued)

HARTFORD -Starting Tuesday, April 1, long guns may not be sold or transferred in Connecticut without a permit to carry pistols or revolvers or an eligibility certificate for pistols or revolvers or a long gun eligibility certificate, according to the state police. The law is part of the package of gun control legislation passed by the General Assembly last year after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown. Other parts of the law had already taken effect. The law required owners of assault weapons that were banned under the law to register their guns by Jan. 1, 2014....

Since 1996, the so-called "Lautenberg Amendment" (named for its sponsor, Senator Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ)), has banned the acquisition or possession of firearms by anyone convicted of a "misdemeanor crime of domestic violence." Applicable crimes are limited to those that have "as an element, the use or attempted use of physical force, or the threatened use of a deadly weapon" and that are committed by persons with a specified relationship to the victim, such as a current or former spouse or a parent. The prohibition applies no matter when the offense occurred and can include convictions that predated the 1996 law....

Last weekend, I reported on Connecticut John Cinque's 2013 warning to lawmakers that he would not comply with their attempts to force the citizens of Connecticut to register their semi-automatic weapons and high capacity magazines. Since that time, the video, though a year old, has gone viral. However, in a recent video between Mr. Cinque and Connecticut gubernatorial candidate Joe Visconti, Cinque reveals that a Branford, Connecticut police officer told him, "I Cannot Wait to Get the Order to Kick Your Door In." (VIDEO-AT-LINK)View the video in its entirety here. Cinque was explaining last year's account to Visconti. Specifically he...

SUNNYVALE, Calif. — Enforcement issues surround two Northern California cities' bans on high-capacity magazines. The Oakland Tribune (http://tinyurl.com/lvtufr3 ) reported Saturday that since Sunnyvale's ban went into effect midnight Thursday, not one of the now-illegal magazines has been turned in. San Francisco police report that they have no system to track whether any magazines have been turned in for destruction under the new ordinance. San Francisco residents must surrender their high-capacity magazines to police by April 7....

The war on liberty is coming to a head in Connecticut, where tens of thousands of gun owners have refused to comply with their state government’s gun registration laws. Officials have literally ordered those who failed to meet the registration deadline to surrender their firearms or face arrest. The State of Connecticut is now demanding that gun owners across the state turn in all newly-banned, unregistered firearms and magazines or face felony arrest. The State Police Special Licensing & Firearms Unit began mailing out notices to gun owners who attempted to register their firearms and accessories with the state but...

Gun-grabbing Democrat Representative Joseph S. Almeida introduced deceptively titled “Safe Firearms Act” (H 7583) yesterday to the Rhode Island General Assembly yesterday. The citizen control law (PDF) is more restrictive than controversial laws in New York and Connecticut in some respects. It bans the purchase of so-defined “assault weapons” immediately upon enactment, and requires registration of all firearms that meet the definition. The bill, referred to the House Judiciary Committee, targets selective-fire and semi-automatic rifles, shotguns, and pistols, both rimfire and centerfire, and adds a constructive possession clause that would deem any otherwise compliant firearm an “assault weapon” if the...

If you have ever had a conversation with a die-hard liberal about the Second Amendment, chances are you have probably been called “paranoid” a time or two (…or fifty). “What are you talking about? The government is not going to take your guns; I don’t know what you’re so worried about,” I can recall from a particular conversation. “Seriously, you’re just paranoid!” If having the foresight to recognize that gun registration is not only wildly unconstitutional, but also a convenient means by which the government could use to eventually confiscate firearms makes me “paranoid,” then so be it. However, contrary...

In the second installation of a three-part series on "gun violence in Mexico," the National Catholic Reporter (NCR) continues to blame the U.S. for gun violence in Mexico, while viewing Fast & Furious as a legitimate attempt at law enforcement which just happened to go wrong. According to NCR, Obama tried to reinstitute an "assault weapons" ban in the U.S. as a way to keep Mexico safer. He also pledged to "keep increasing the pressure on the gun traffickers." NCR claims part of the pressure on traffickers included Operation Fast & Furious, which turned out to be a "botched 2009...

<p>A federal judge on Thursday upheld Connecticut's tough gun control law that was passed in the wake of the deadly 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.</p>
<p>The stringent law is constitutional, said the ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Alfred Covello, denying a legal challenge by a group of gun owners.</p>

Earlier this year, Connecticut politicians took advantage of the horrific Newtown shootings to dust off a wish list of draconian firearms restrictions and race them through the legislative process into law. The restrictions wouldn't have prevented the mass murder—they would have been completely irrelevant to the crime, in fact—which may be why they were rammed through under "emergency certification" with no referrals to committees or public hearings. Among other things, the new law requires registration of "assault weapons" and high-capacity magazines by January 1, 2014. Any student of history could have predicted officials' current concerns now that relatively few residents...

A veteran Washington D.C. investigative journalist says the Department of Homeland Security confiscated a stack of her confidential files during a raid of her home in August — leading her to fear that a number of her sources inside the federal government have now been exposed. In an interview with The Daily Caller, journalist Audrey Hudson revealed that the Department of Homeland Security and Maryland State Police were involved in a predawn raid of her Shady Side, Md. home on Aug. 6. Hudson is a former Washington Times reporter and current freelance reporter. A search warrant obtained by TheDC indicates...

In the seven months since the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, Ohio legislators have introduced more gun-related bills than they did in the previous two years combined – most of them to expand gun rights.A Cincinnati Enquirer analysis shows members of the General Assembly have introduced 19 firearm-related bills since taking office in January; five more than the 14 firearm-related bills introduced in 2011 and 2012.Of the 19 bills, 11 would expand the rights of gun owners – increasing the locations where “stand your ground’ law is applicable, adding places where a person can legally carry a concealed...

With all this talk of “The Wild West”, I thought it might be informative to look at the reality of crime in the “wild west” cattle towns and compare them to the peaceful streets of such eastern, gun-control paradises as DC, New York, Baltimore and Newark.In his book, Frontier Violence: Another Look, author W. Eugene Hollon, provides us with these astonishing facts:In Abilene, Ellsworth, Wichita, Dodge City, and Caldwell, for the years from 1870 to 1885, there were only 45 total homicides. This equates to a rate of approximately 1 murder per 100,000 residents per year.In Abilene, supposedly one of the wildest...

Former Rep. Gabby Giffords (D-AZ) and her husband Mark Kelly will embark on a multi-state tour on July 1st to push for expanded background checks on gun purchasers. Kelly's gun-control group, Americans for Responsible Solutions, announced the "Rights and Responsibilities" Tour on Tuesday. Giffords and Kelly will try to gin up more support for expanded background checks after an amendment sponsored by Sens. Pat Toomey (R-PA) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) failed in April. “I’ve been around guns my whole life, and I know that as an American, my right to own a firearm goes hand in hand with my obligation...

Six months ago today, an odd, angry kid named Adam Lanza woke up, grabbed a couple of guns, and went looking for easy targets. He started with his mother, who had taught him to shoot, and who was probably still asleep when Lanza entered her bedroom and put those lessons to use, shooting her four times in the head. Next, he moved on to children, 20 of them, huddled in the first-grade classrooms at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Lanza shot and killed them and six adults with 154 rounds from an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle. His final target was himself: with...

Steve Warholic spends nearly his entire workday at a Nevada ammunition store scouring the Internet, and the owner puts in even more time online. Both think they need to spend more time on the web. They’re trying to find bullets for their customers at Stockpile Defense and the store’s sister school, where 50,000 people are trained every year in firearms handling. Shelves that once held the most popular calibers, like .22 and .45, are bare. There are waiting lists as long as two months and students are requested to bring their own ammunition. Pre-orders are no longer allowed. “We’re buying...

The Senate's proposed gun-control bill crashed and burned earlier this month, and Majority Leader Harry Reid signaled that he was going to put the issue on the political shelf where it would presumably start to gather dust â€” but that might not be the case after all. Senator Manchin and Toomey revealed last week that they're going to keep looking for ways to strengthen Senate support for the measures, and Machin confirmed that he's optimistc that he can fix their mistakes from the last go-around and introduce a background check-centric, cleaner version of the bill:CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO...

In the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Monday the country’s interpretation of the Constitution will “have to change” to allow for greater security to stave off future attacks. “The people who are worried about privacy have a legitimate worry,” Mr. Bloomberg said during a press conference in Midtown. “But we live in a complex world where you’re going to have to have a level of security greater than you did back in the olden days, if you will. And our laws and our interpretation of the Constitution, I think, have to change.”

Gun buyers have long demonstrated a tendency to stock up on weapons and ammunition ahead of possible changes to gun laws, and a so-called “Obama surge” in gun sales kicked off in the lead-up to Barack Obama’s first election victory in 2008. There was a similar pick up in 2012 as a second Obama victory looked likely, and another rush on stores when it became clear the Obama administration would push for tighter gun control laws in the wake of the Sandy Hook school shooting last December. In fact, the rush beginning in December has been high even by historic...

For the most part gun control legislation is dead for the foreseeable future. While the nation was watching the horrific events happening in Boston the U.S. Senate failed to pass anything. President Obama was quick to hold a press conference but it was more like a public temper tantrum, hardly anyone noticed. Could it be that because while he was holding this press conference Boston was in lock down? I have a few friends that live in Watertown and I know they were locked and loaded. Protecting family members should this guy have tried to get in their house. He...

Feinstein: Watertown Citizens Don’t Need Assault Weapons to Protect Themselves By Andrew Johnson April 21, 2013 1:09 PM Senator Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) stood by her push for an assault-weapons ban when Fox News Sunday’s Chris Wallace pressed her on whether Boston and Watertown residents may have preferred to arm and protect themselves on Friday while the suspect was at large. “If where you’re going is, do they need an assault weapon? I don’t think so,” she said.

I want my money back. Last October, I gave $2,500 to support Heidi Heitkamp’s campaign to become North Dakota’s junior senator. A few weeks later, she won a surprise victory. I have had a long career in government and politics, but I don’t donate heavily to political campaigns. When I contribute, it’s because I know the candidate well or am really impressed with the person. Heidi Heitkamp was one of the latter: She struck me as strong-willed, principled and an independent thinker. But this week, Heitkamp betrayed those hopes. She voted to block legislation to make gun background checks more...

You can breathe a sigh of relief ... for now“The Gun Owners of America chimed in, attacking Republican senators who showed any interest in compromise, arguing that a national gun registry would arise from the bill.” -The New York Times, April 17, 2013You guys were amazing! Your efforts have accomplished what, four months ago, many in Washington thought was impossible: a total and complete victory (for now) against President Obama’s anti-gun agenda.But let's face it. We're never going to be able to let our guard down entirely, until the 113th Congress adjourns in December, 2014.Senator Harry Reid has now pulled...

Katie Lyles was a sophomore at Columbine High School when her math class was interrupted by the sound of gunfire on April 20, 1999. She fled the class, and survived. But by the end of the day, she would find out that her lab partner from science class and one of her teachers were among the 13 people killed by a pair of seniors who went on a shooting rampage that day. Fourteen years later, Lyles, now an art teacher at an elementary school in the same Colorado community, decided to become an advocate for expanded background checks and other...

The Senate delivered a devastating blow to President Obama’s agenda Wednesday by defeating a bipartisan proposal that would have expanded background checks on gun sales. It failed by a vote of 54-46, short of the necessary 60. A handful of Democrats voted against it and only four Republicans supported the measure backed by the White House. The vote effectively halted gun control in the upper chamber.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said that he will support the Assault Weapon Ban against what he calls conspiracy theorists, black helicopters and false flags: “I’ll vote for the ban because saving the lives of police officers, young and old, and innocent civilians, young and old, is more important than preventing imagined tyranny,”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, an NRA supporter, announced on Wednesday morning he will vote for bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines being offered as amendments one month after pulling those bans from a package of overall gun-reform legislation.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Wednesday that he would support a new ban on assault weapons as an amendment to pending gun control legislation. ""I will vote for Dianne Feinstein's assault weapons ban," Reid said in an impassioned speech on the Senate floor. "I will vote for assault weapons ban because maintaining law and order and saving lives is more important than preventing imagined tyranny." "Today I choose to vote my conscience, not only as Harry Reid, a United States Senator, but also as a husband, a father, a grandfather, and — I hope — a friend to lots...

Key measures of New York's tough new gun law have kicked in, meaning owners of firearms now reclassified as assault weapons are required to register their guns. There are also new limits on the number of bullets allowed in magazines. The new provisions took effect Monday. New York's affiliate of the National Rifle Association says it expects to ask a federal judge late in the afternoon to immediately halt the magazine limit. The New York State Rifle & Pistol Association says the law violates the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens "to keep commonly possessed firearms." Association president Tom King says...

The Rhode Island General Assembly is considering a nine-bill package of gun control legislation ­— including a statewide assault weapons ban — that Gov. Lincoln Chafee ’75 P’14 announced with other legislative and community leaders at a press conference last Tuesday afternoon. “This is a conversation that’s taking place right now in every state and at the national level,” said Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed, D-Newport. The bills are the product of months of collaboration between legislators and law enforcement officials, she said. The call to action was in part inspired by the Dec. 14 elementary school shooting in Newtown,...

South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham announced earlier today that he will vote against the compromise amendment proposed last week by senators Pat Toomey and Joe Manchin, which would expand criminal background checks to all advertised gun sales. Graham announced his decision on Twitter, arguing that the bill is “well-intentioned” but does not constitute “a solution to illegal gun violence”:

Washington (CNN) – Supporters of a bipartisan compromise to expand background checks for guns sales currently don't have the 60 votes they will need to win approval of their amendment so a vote on the proposal - which was expected midweek - is unlikely before the end of the week, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-West Virginia, told CNN in an exclusive interview Monday. The vote is being pushed back so Manchin and others can build support for the controversial plan.

Gun Control, Compromised The Public Safety and Second Amendment Rights Protection Act of 2013, as proposed by Republican senators Pat Toomey and Mark Kirk and Democrats Joe Manchin and Charles Schumer, deals partly in symbolism. It “reaffirms,” for instance, an existing ban on government firearms registries, and establishes Washington’s umpteenth blue-ribbon panel — the National Commission on Mass Violence — to “study the availability and nature of firearms, including the means of acquiring firearms, issues relating to mental health, and all positive and negative impacts of the availability and nature of firearms on incidents of mass violence.” It also does...

While most in the media have harped the bipartisan compromise concerning universal background checks by manchin and toomey, little notice has been given to the fact that feinstein has reintroduced her assault weapon ban as amendments to the manchin/toomey bill. To see the amendments, go to thomas.loc.gov at the url posted. Then go to 'amendments'. Next, click on each amendment (e.g.711), then 'text of amendment as submitted' to see text of the amendment.

Sources inside the Senate tell me that the Republican Conference is scared to death of the tactics of Senators Lee, Cruz and Paul – that it is supposedly putting them in a tough spot. Several of the Republicans are using the Manchin-Toomey compromise plan as an excuse to cave on the gun filibuster. They claim that Senators Lee, Cruz, and Paul are running ahead of the conference in their insistence on a filibuster. What they fail to see is that the cloture vote is the vote to stop the gun legislation from passage. Several Republican Senators intend to vote against...

Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Pat Toomey is close to a deal with Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia on background checks for gun show and Internet gun sales, his office said Tuesday night. The two are planning a joint press conference for Wednesday morning. A Toomey spokesperson on Tuesday told NBC News that the two senators have agreed on all but the final details of a compromise. Manchin told reporters Tuesday that the compromise would close the gun show loophole by mandating background checks for those transactions and also require background checks for all Internet gun sales.

President Obama has been calling Republican and Democratic senators on Tuesday to discuss the gun-control vote, a White House official said. Obama is expected to reach out to between half a dozen to a dozen senators in all, the official said. The White House would not provide the call list, so it's unclear whether Obama is reaching out to Republican senators who have promised to filibuster gun-control legislation. As part of the lobbying effort, Obama is telling senators that gun-control legislation "deserves a vote," the official said. The president is expected to reiterate his message in recent days that Congress...

According to the Wall Street Journal, U. S. Senator from Louisiana Mary Landrieu will vote to move forward gun control legislation now pending in the U. S. Senate. Reid Sets Gun-Bill Vote for Thursday Two conservative Democrats who are up for re-election in 2014 held back from immediately joining the GOP effort to stop the Senate from voting on the gun-control bill. “This is an issue that we should debate,” said Sen. Mary Landrieu (D., La.). The Louisiana Democrat said she plans to wait until she sees the final language of any bipartisan deal on background checks before deciding whether...

Several Senate Republicans on Tuesday came out publicly against filibustering the first major gun control legislation since 1993 before it is even brought up for debate on the Senate floor, as advocates inched toward breaking a conservative blockade of the measure. ,,,,,,,,,,,,, Ms. Collins said she had spoken several times with Mr. Manchin and was pleased that the new language would exempt from background checks the sale or exchange of guns between family members. Under the measure, records of gun sales would be kept, but Ms. Collins said she was satisfied that those records could in no way be compiled...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has given Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) until 5 p.m. Tuesday to reach a background checks deal with Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), according to several sources close to the issue. If there’s no agreement by that deadline, Reid will move to start debate over a gun-control package that is a wish list for gun-control advocates. But Republicans have already threatened to filibuster the bill, and it is unlikely to pass in its current form. If there is no deal and a filibuster is surmounted, votes could start as early as Thursday.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid again took the Senate floor to make a very personal plea on Tuesday morning for a vote on gun control legislation. ~snip~ “In Nevada, if you purchase a handgun, you have to wait three days to pick it up,” Reid said. “And it is believed that alone has saved the lives of many people. Sometimes people in a fit of passion will purchase a handgun to do bad things with it, Mr. President, even as my dad did — killed himself. Waiting a few days helps.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has promised to filibuster new gun control legislation, putting up a significant roadblock to Democratic efforts to move forward on the measure this week. ... McConnell is now the 15th Senator to sign on to the Republican gun control filibuster, an effort that has been spearheaded by conservative Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), and Mike Lee (R-Utah). As the top Senate Republican, McConnell's support gives the filibuster a much higher chance of success, imperiling the already-delicate bipartisan negotiations on new gun control measures. McConnell's promise to filibuster also deflates criticism from the more...

Government compels, restrains and takes. Thomas Jefferson understood that when he wrote that our liberties are inalienable and endowed by our Creator, and the only reason we have formed governments is to engage them to protect our liberties. We enacted the Constitution as the supreme law of the land to restrain the government. Yet somewhere along the way, government got the idea that it can more easily protect the freedom of us all from the abuses of a few by curtailing the freedom of us all. I know that sounds ridiculous, but that's where we are today. The anti-Second Amendment...

Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy had some harsh words for NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre on Sunday, comparing the gun lobby chief to "clowns at the circus." Appearing on CNN's "State of the Union" with Candy Crowley, Malloy hit back at LaPierre over his dismissal of Connecticut's strict new gun laws. "Wayne reminds me of the clowns at the circus. They get the most attention," Malloy said. "And that's what he's paid to do. But the reality is is that the gun that was used to kill 26 people on Dec. 14 was legally purchased in the state of Connecticut, even though...